Werner Lorant has all but written off tonight's Intertoto Cup tie as the embattled 1860 Munich manager looks ahead to this weekend's vital Bundesliga clash with Cologne.

A serious injury to stand-in sweeper Tomas Votava during last night's training session at St James's Park could prove to be the final straw for Lorant as Newcastle's opponents face up to a serious defensive crisis.

Czech international Votava was seen as the natural replacement for former Queen's Park Rangers defender Ned Zelic, who is out of tonight's clash with a dental problem.

However, 27-year-old Votava was taken to Newcastle General Hospital with a suspected broken ankle just minutes into the Germans' official training session, leaving Lorant with a major headache as he seeks a way to counter United's pace up front.

The 1860 coach ended Munich's St James's Park run-out with former Celtic defender Vidar Riseth in the libero's role and last week's goalscorer Filip Tapalovic alongside Achim Pfuderer as the two marking centre halves.

A further serious injury was the last thing Lorant needed as he prepares for one of the toughest weeks of his managerial career in the face of growing unrest over his training methods.

A crushing 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Kaiserslautern on Saturday drew some stinging criticism and the club cannot afford a repeat in four days' time.

Lorant has been accused of pushing his players too far, with Didier Dheedene complaining that the Munich squad were put through a 45-minute training session on the morning of last week's first leg against Newcastle. The 1860 manager is famed for his hard line on fitness and hit back at summer signing Dheedene when he fumed: "These kind of players always try to find some way of apologising for how they perform on the field.

"Nobody can tell me that I am doing the wrong kind of training sessions because I have been doing the same things with some success for eight years in the Bundesliga." Even before last week's opening game with United, Lorant insisted that he was priming his players for the league season and that the Intertoto Cup was nothing more than a useful opportunity for match practice.

His opinion has not changed ahead of tonight's second leg and the general feeling is that an early Newcastle goal could kill off the Germans and set up a semi-final date with Wolfsburg or Troyes in six days' time.

Votava's fellow countryman Roman Tyce is expected to challenge for a place in tonight's 1860 line-up but Austrian international Harald Cerny is out for eight weeks after injuring his shoulder against Kaiserslautern.

Bulgarian Daniel Borimorov was another experienced international who missed the first leg in Germany but the 55-times capped player will start tonight's game.

Bobby Robson was able to include Robert Lee in his squad for the first time this summer but Andy O'Brien has suffered a further setback.

The former Bradford defender had resumed training with the rest of the first team squad late last week but he was due to visit a specialist yesterday following a recurrence of his foot injury.